In June of this year, my house was in the grip of A-level season, my son studying hard to secure his future and his first choice university place. Just at the point where he had one exam left to go, dreadful news broke about a rapid succession of devastating overnight incidents in Nottingham, where three people were killed and others driven at in a stolen motor vehicle taken from one of the victims.
My wife and I paid very close attention to this on the news because as if it wasn’t terrible enough already, the news then came that two of the victims were University of Nottingham students, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar. Nottingham University was my son’s first choice place – the only university he really wanted to go to, on which he had his heart set. It all resonated loudly and sadly for us and we watched the university and the city rally around the families of the students and Ian Coates who was also killed. I even had relatives asking if Nottingham was going to be a safe place for him to go if he passed his exams.
Well, he absolutely nailed his exams, secured his place and we dropped him off there in September to build the next stage of his life in the only place he really wanted to be – and he’s loving it already as we now know both Barnaby and Grace were. In response to relatives, I said (and also wrote on social media), “This tragedy doesn’t reflect on the university or the city at all – it sounds like this could have happened anywhere from what we can know so far and it changes nothing. Much love and thoughts to those involved and to those who responded to it.” But the response to these appalling events absolutely did reflect on the university and the city – it was total, compassionate and caring, replete with dignity and solidarity amongst students and citizens alike.
He’s now very proud to study there — Ancient History, if you’re interested.
DIMINISHED RESPONSIBILITY
Today, at Nottingham Crown Court, thirty-two year old Valdo Calocane (also known as Adam Menzes) pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility for the three fatalities and pleaded guilty to attempted murder of the three others, at whom he drove the stolen vehicle. The court adjourned to allow prosecution lawyers to consider the medical evidence for diminished responsibility which sits behind the guilty plea to manslaughter and to consider whether they proceed to trial for murder, with which Mr Calocane was charged in June. So we now know what was rumoured: there are elements of this which relate to the defendant’s mental state at the time of the attacks.
Today’s development is significant in that respect and it is not yet the conclusion of the process.
We will have to wait until January to see whether or not the Crown Prosecution Service and the Court are prepared to accept these pleas or whether they will proceed to a full trial for murder. Diminished responsibility, as a legal concept, is covered by section 2 of the Homicide Act 1957 (the legislation was updated in 2009 by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009). It involves a four-stage assessment, each part of which must be satisfied for a partial defence of diminished responsibility to succeed –
- The defendant was suffering from an abnormality of mental functioning
- It had arisen from a recognised medical condition
- It had substantially impaired a defendant’s ability either to understand the nature of their conduct, to form a rational judgment or to exercise self-control (or any combination of those three)
- It provided an explanation for their conduct in killing another.
This is quite different to insanity. As insanity is not what is being claimed here, I’ll be summary (but the previous link contains more detail): it means someone did not know what they were doing or did not know what they were doing was wrong, because of their mental disorder. Diminished responsibility means there is still awareness of the act done and criminal culpability for it, but this liability is substantial diminished because of their mental functioning at the time and how it contributed to their behaviour.
SO WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Well, one of two things will happen next —
- The CPS may decide, after reviewing the medical evidence, to accept the defendant’s pleas to three manslaughter and three attempted murder charges.
- They may decide to proceed to a full trial for three murder charges and allow the jury to decide between finding guilty for murder or accepting the pleas to manslaughter after hearing all the evidence, including the medical evidence.
There are examples of defendant wishing to plead guilty to manslaughter (diminished responsibility) and the judge then directing a trial for murder because he was dissatisfied with the reasons why the prosecution were agreeing to accept the plea. This is what happened in no less a trial than that of the Yorkshire Ripper. The prosecution authorities were minded to accept his plea and the judge asked for reasons to be given. He then proceeded to direct a trial to occur.
No mention has been made in the BBC coverage whether the defendant is remanded to prison or hospital during these legal proceedings. We obviously know the defence is claiming substantial impairment of mental function and it is possible in such a case, a defendant could be remanded to hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983, including for the preparation of psychiatric reports (under s35 MHA). It could also be the case a defendant is held in prison until trial, with assessment of his mental state occurring there. This depends on whether there are two doctors suggesting a defendant should be “sectioned” under the MHA because of their illness and I’m unable to find anything on this, either way.
I will update again next year when we reach the next stage and see what the CPS and the Court says.
NOTTINGHAM UNIVERSITY
If you’ve never been, the campus at Nottingham is beautiful – we visited him so he could fleece us for lunch and show us around and lapped the campus with the dog jumping about in excitement at seeing his “older brother” (and fair enough, some of the jumping may have been about rabbits and squirrels as well). He’s bought the university merch and wears it with pride and he’s jumped straight in to university life in a way I wish I had when I first went to Birmingham.
Indeed I remember as well a student was killed and many others seriously injured in Birmingham after another knife based attack which involved a defendant with mental health problems. Terrible events can befall students and all of us anywhere, ultimately.
NB: this is the latest in post about the terrible events in Nottingham, June 2023. You can find all the others collated on a specific Nottingham resources page along with other materials, inc reports and legal documents.
Winner of the President’s Medal,
the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Winner of the Mind Digital Media Award
All opinions expressed are my own – they do not represent the views of any organisation.
(c) Michael Brown, 2023
I try to keep this blog up to date, but inevitably over time, amendments to the law as well as court rulings and other findings from inquests and complaints processes mean it is difficult to ensure all the articles and pages remain current. Please ensure you check all legal issues in particular and take appropriate professional advice where necessary.
Government legislation website – www.legislation.gov.uk
Mental Health Cop 